The 2015 Poppy rally was a big challenge
for both of us as it was on the Poppy 2013 when we had a ‘meeting’ with a tree.
However, we didn’t let that stop us. For the first time, Seren and myself were
competing against each other, both as navigators.
After arriving in Belgium, we headed
straight to Poperinge where scrutineering was being held. Patrick, my driver
hadn’t arrived yet, so I was given the responsibility of doing everything
myself. I stuck the rally plates on and started preparing the car, only to
realise I was missing a Brantz timer! I didn’t know what to do, as I knew I
would need it for the night sections. I asked around but to no avail and knew
this was going to really affect my timing when it went dark.
After scrutineering it was off to do the
measure distance and what an event that was. As I didn’t have a driver, I gave
all my navigation information to Seren to assist her and I would follow behind so
I could get the correct route. Little did I know this was going to be the most
interesting measured distance ever. After zeroing my trip and entering the
total distance we left the start. I had roughly memorised the route but we
didn’t seem to turn right when I thought we would have, however, I knew that
she had tulips, a map and a driver, therefore must be right. After turning
right at a T-junction and visiting a lovely village my trip was on a ridiculous
number, which I figured, couldn’t be right. Eventually we stopped and they
signaled to turn around. I was in hysterics because they had all the info and
went wrong! Even though Seren hadn’t
navigated in over 2 years, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Not only this, during the practice reg they
suggested to follow them as it finished near the hotel and they felt they
needed to practice. I agreed and followed them to the start. As I approached
the start board they whizzed off. Confused, I stopped, thinking to myself “I thought they wanted to practice?” 1 minute
later they had reversed to stop next to me exclaiming ‘ ooops we missed it’! Again laughter filled me and I just thought
about what tomorrow would bring.
We all arrived at the hotel full of energy,
until we were given the plotting. It took me 6 hours to complete all the
plotting and even then I hadn’t checked. I had only done Leg 1 when it was time
for dinner and all I worried about was when I would have time to complete the
rest. Therefore, I stayed up late to make sure I had it all down on the maps.
Moring arrived all too quickly and we left
early to get to the start at Poperinge, where we were given leg 3 to plot
during the day. It wasn’t long and we
were out on the road to the first test at the Paintball track. I admit I was
slightly terrified of this test as it was extremely slippery, but Patrick had
complete control and eased us around the track finishing 1 second quicker than
my sister. Although, this didn’t matter as up to coffee, Seren and Dad were
beating me by 10 places and I was running 33rd overall.
I thought that we would be able to fight up
the board but, as the morning continued, my ambitions were disappearing.
Starting with us missing a control, a local had placed a tractor in the way and
we had to make a small detour to keep on time, I was hoping that the control
would be after the re route and it wouldn’t affect us to much. However, the further
we travelled along the route the more I knew we had missed one. Ways to tell
Patrick streamed through my head, but eventually I just told him bluntly. At
Lunch I was elated to hear that they were going to have to cancel that control as
no one made it to the marshal.
Lunch was just what we all needed, when we
arrived there was a massive ham hock to nibble at. Unfortunately, we were
slightly late arriving and only had half an hour to enjoy the feast. It was
very much appreciated though.
Being on rallies, is like being on a
rollercoaster as one minute all is going well and the next minute, mid reg you
press the wrong button on your egg-timer, that your using instead of a stop
watch, and it starts beeping to tell you that your eggs are ready. This would
have been fine if I was actually cooking an egg, however, at that moment in
time, it really didn’t help the process of timing
After two fast slalom tests we finally
finished Leg 1 and arrived at dinner. But there was no time to rest, we needed
to make sure we had plotted Leg 3 for tomorrow, as it was an early start. Seren
and I spent our time comparing maps and information to make sure we had to same
route and to double-check we were right. It was really lovely having a friend
to compare with as it just supports your opinion. It doesn’t matter how
thorough you are, we all make mistakes so it was lovely to have a companion.
It was then onwards to the night section
which I had been dreading due to the lack of Brantz timer. It was an extremely
tough section starting with a regularity and straight into the Timing Control
section. It would have been fine, however, we ended up getting stuck behind a
queue of cars at the final point on the reg, giving us a 4-minute delay at the
first TC. I wasn’t surprised though, because there were cars going everywhere
and I don’t think anyone knew where they were heading. We even met Seren at the
red gates, during the TC and got stuck again behind a queue. This was actually
a blessing disguise as we were going to be early. So this delayed us and made
put us back on our time.
By morning we had jumped to 11th
Overall meaning we were seeded 11th out in the morning. No rest for
me then. I went straight up stairs to finish plotting leg 3. Once done, I was
into bed for 5 hours sleep before the pre-breakfast section in the morning.
Setting my alarm for 5:30am was not comforting.
Awake but not really alive, I wandered
around the hotel waiting for 6:41 to tick by so that I could start the two
regularities before breakfast. I now know that I do not operate without food.
After making simple mistakes, like left instead of right, and telling Patrick
the wrong speed, I decided that I needed to concentrate if we were to get back
for food. I still managed to collect a lovely 9 seconds at a control but I was
pleased with the 1s and 2s and the fact Patrick was still listening to me, even
after asking why other cars were right behind us and going different ways.
Even though I had made numerous errors, it
was evident that so had everyone else as we had gone up to 10th.
This really put the pressure on meaning I would have to concentrate to stay in
the top ten. Patrick was really taking it seriously as, at breakfast, he
disappeared into the car to take a quick nap.
Whilst Patrick was catching up on some
shuteye, Seren and I started comparing Leg 3 maps only to discover we had gone
completely different routes. As we were so tired the night before, I think we
both just made routes up. We corrected them together so they were the same.
It was soon time to be back on the road
again for a selection of tests. The final six tests were all together, much to Patrick’s
dismay. I think he was quite tired by this point as he seemed to forget that we
were supposed to miss the cones and sent one flying into a neighboring field.
At least it kept the marshals entertained but meant we had an extra 10-second
penalty to add to the morning’s penalties.
To add to the fun of the tests, when we
arrived at the final test, there was a long queue. Immediately I jumped out to
get a delay only to discover that a local had decided to drive on the closed
road to pick someone up. It meant a bit of a wait but a lovely time to catch up
with fellow competitors. I really enjoyed being seeded 11th as it
meant I was with the top navigators and able to chat and get advice quickly.
Also, when arriving at venues, there was always space to park and you feel in
the know. It did make me feel like I knew what I was doing, even though I
really didn’t.
When we finally were called forward to
drive the last test, Patrick took it upon himself to ‘drive it’. By this I mean
he pushed the car to its limits. I didn’t notice at the time but as we turned
90 right after a cone, our rear tyre came full off the ground. At least we
didn’t hit another cone.
By lunchtime we were both exhausted but knew
that we had one last regularity before the end. The pressure was on as we were
only one second behind 2nd in our class. I was worried that there
was going to be a sting in the tail and we would drop down but I actually found
it quite simple and it ended up being our best reg getting
-1
0
0
+5
Admittedly the plus 5 was a little annoying
but we didn’t mind as it was the home straight. Crossing the finish line was
such a relief and we thought that we had finished 11th. Amazingly,
we had moved up to 10th and ended up with a top ten finish. The
competition was extremely tough and I felt so proud of Seren for coming 21st
overall and 3rd in class. For a driver, that is pretty impressive,
so we could be making a navigator out of her yet.
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